HD television question...total newb.
 

ok, up till now i had an ancient 20" television. my SO decided to treat me to a huge 46" sony LCD tv. she bought it from costco. half a day ago, i had no idea what a HDMI cable was. i went to my local cable provider, and asked about HD programming. he told me, the 900+ stations are HD, and if my tv, had a built in HD tuner, i would not need an additional HD cable box. i cant decipher the specs to my TV.
tuner: ATSC, Clear QAM5????? what the heck does that mean?
only channel 909 comes in. it appears to be HD quality. it is eric clapton in concert..BONUS!
maybe i will just get the cable box. i know, tech loser.

cliff
thanks.

Maybe if you post the model # of the TV....

Over the air HiDef - free. Antenna. Usually a channel with a 'point 1' on the end - ie 7.1.

Yes, free as long as you have an HD decoder/tuner. They can be built-in, depending on model, or part of your cable/sat receiver. Even here in Los Angeles I need to have OTA (over the air) to get PBS-HD. Directv sends almost all the rest.

I'm pretty sure that if you want pay-per-view or any premium channel like HBO, you're going to need their cable box anyway.